Business Wire - February 10, 2004

Sarnoff Corporation, the Princeton-based innovation services and technology development company, praised the announcement from Locus Pharmaceuticals of Blue Bell, PA, that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has allowed the claims of a patent application for computerized drug design technology originally developed by Sarnoff. The technology was exclusively licensed to Locus for use in developing new therapies for various disease states including AIDS, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The technology was developed by Dr. Frank Guarnieri, Principal Founding Scientist of Locus, while he was at Sarnoff. Locus Pharmaceuticals was founded by Sarnoff as part of its venture company formation strategy.

"We are gratified that the patent office has recognized the uniqueness of our approach in helping make drug discovery faster and more accurate," said Dr. Carmen Catanese, Sarnoff Executive Vice President. "Locus has already made great use of this method as a key element of its proprietary technology, reducing the time it takes to design druggable molecules for proteins implicated in disease from years to months. This and future Sarnoff innovations promise to play a major role in drug design and development, and in shortening pharmaceutical R&D cycle times."

Using Locus's supercomputer cluster, the patented technology quickly identifies the ideal binding site for a small molecule on a disease-related protein. Scientists can then computationally design and synthesize new drug molecules to attack the disease. The process is not only faster than conventional approaches, it will also help find greater numbers of potential therapeutic compounds where other methods may only lead to a few.

The technology suite has the potential for applications as wide ranging as food industry use and environmental sensing, according to Dr. Catanese.

Locus Pharmaceuticals uses the technology to synthesize and test novel, computationally predicted candidate drugs for the treatment of debilitating and life-threatening diseases. It also collaborates with other companies in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries on external research programs.

"This patent will play a vital role in advancing the state of the art in computational drug discovery," said Dr. Joseph Reiser, President and CEO. "We have already applied and extended the Sarnoff technology in our research and development activities."

The technology grew out of Sarnoff's decision to invest in biomedical research by building on its strengths in electronics, information technology, and life sciences.

CONTACT: Sarnoff Corporation

Tom Lento, 609-734-3178, tlento@sarnoff.com

SOURCE: Sarnoff Corporation

040210
BW040207

Copyright © 2004 - Business Wire. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Business Wire, Permissions Desk, Business Wire, 1185 Avenue of the Americas, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10036; Tel: (212) 575-8822; FAX: (212) 575-1854. http://www.businesswire.com.

AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2004. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .